Pelosi: Snowden should ‘come back and face the music’

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says fugitive Edward Snowden — the intelligence analyst who blew the whistle on National Security Agency data-gathering of millions of Americans’ phone records and other surveillance — should not be granted clemency, but should “come back and face the music for what he did.”

Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, was asked about Snowden during a meeting Monday with The Chronicle’s editorial board.

“I’m not at a place where I think he should be coming back with clemency,” Pelosi said. “I think he should come back and face the music for what he did … (but) the music shouldn’t be the death penalty or life in prison.”

Regarding his leaks of NSA surveillance programs, Pelosi said, “I do think there was a violation and it should not be ignored.” The U.S. has charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property.

Pelosi added that she was “still not satisfied” with explanations she has received for how Snowden was “able to take all this information and walk out the door. … Who’s accountable for this?”

Pelosi said she had been instrumental in writing legislation after the 2001 terrorist attacks that were “supposed to keep the balance” between national security concerns and privacy rights. She said the Snowden case has brought the debate front and center.

“If he is a patriot — as he supposedly is — he will come home” and use the opportunity to make his case to the public, Pelosi said.